Sam Vinciullo Valley Shiraz 2018

100% Shiraz. Sam Vinciullo, with only a couple of vintages under his own label, is already making some of the most exciting wines in Australia. After working in California and then in Italy for years, Sam returned home to Margaret River in Western Australia to work on his own in 2014. Recently, Sam began leasing property of his own complete with a small winery and seven hectares of planted vines: though the vineyards have been farmed organically for years, Sam is going a step further, and is currently in the process of converting the vineyard to what he calls “progressive farming,” including practices like replacing sulfur sprays in the vineyard with seaweed and compost spray and building small chicken coops that can be moved around the vineyard for compost and insect management. The vines are un-grafted and like all of Sam's wines this sees no new oak. From the top of a north-east facing slope that has never been irrigated this Shiraz brings an intensity, without any new oak, to the wine that feels almost electric. This is definitely new school Australian Shiraz from a must-watch producer and it shows why we love Sam's wines so much.